SAN DIEGO, Aug. 31, 2017 — The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) today announced Klyde Warren Park, a freeway deck park in Dallas designed by OJB Landscape Architecture (OJB), as the recipient of the ASLA Design Award of Excellence. This prestigious designation is awarded to only one project per year. The award will be presented October 23 at the ASLA National Meeting in Los Angeles.

OJB Founder and President, James Burnett, FASLA, said “Receiving this award is an incredible honor for our firm and we are delighted to join the distinguished list of past recipients. This park has been transformative on so many levels; socially, economically and environmentally. It has changed the way people imagine public space in Dallas. The city was ready to heal the big divide that separated Downtown from Uptown and Klyde Warren Park was the answer. We were inspired by our clients’ determination to see this decade long project become a reality.”

Klyde Warren Park was constructed over one of the busiest freeways in Texas. The freeway had severed the city’s Arts District from Uptown for many years. Restoring the connection has transformed the city by bridging the gap and creating a new heart of downtown.

The park sits over the eight-lane Woodall Rodgers Freeway and is designed to reflect the district through its inspirational design. Acting as a common ground for the surrounding museums and businesses, the 5.2-acre urban park has been warmly embraced by the community and has been a catalyst for economic development.

Conceived as a Public/Private Partnership (P3), the park’s construction was funded jointly by the City of Dallas, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the US Department of Transportation and private donations to the non-profit Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation (WRPF).

The park has made a positive impact on the Dallas community. Operating under a long-term lease with the City of Dallas, the WRPF’s event programming staff keeps the park’s calendar full of offerings including Dallas Opera simulcasts, free concerts, regular fitness classes and a rotating menu of the city’s most popular food trucks. The park’s flexible design features a children’s park, great lawn, restaurant, performance pavilion, fountain plaza, games area, dog park and botanical gardens. Opening the park has also provided a significant economic boost to the once-desolate area surrounding the freeway, spurring a flurry of office and residential projects on parcels surrounding the project.

The park’s sustainable landscape provides dramatic environmental improvements including the sequestration of CO2 through native planted trees, temperature reductions from shade producing trees and canopies and water conservation through the subgrade reservoir’s collection of stormwater. Klyde Warren Park has gracefully reconnected the city, and has become an integral and endeared open space in Downtown Dallas.

About OJBFounded in 1989, OJB Landscape Architecture began with a focus on creating landscapes that provide unique and unforgettable sensory experiences. OJB’s recent work has focused on the rejuvenation of American cities through the creation of distinctive public park spaces including ULI Urban Open Space Award winning Klyde Warren Park in Dallas and Myriad Gardens in Oklahoma City. Other notable projects include the artfully planted Sunnylands Center and Gardens in Rancho Mirage, CA, Levy Park in Houston and LeBauer Park in Greensboro. In 2016, James Burnett, FASLA, founder of OJB Landscape Architecture, received the ASLA Design Medal and in 2015, OJB received the ASLA Firm Award for its renowned portfolio of work. Follow OJB on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Vimeo.